Data Standards - U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is using data standards to increase the quality and compatibility of its data. This approach will increase opportunities to share data and reduce incidents of redundant data development.

Standards are being developed, reviewed, and adopted according to a formal process. Please review the definitions of terms used in this process. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses the following types of standards:

Classification Systems

Data Elements

Name of Standard	Phase	Data Steward Appointed
Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States	Adopted	Yes
Vegetation Classification	Adopted	No

Name of Standard	Phase	Data Steward Appointed
Calendar Year	Adopted	Yes
Congressional District	Adopted	Yes
County Name	Adopted	Yes
County Numeric Code	Adopted	Yes
Dun & Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number	Adopted	Yes
Ecosystem Unit Name	Adopted	Yes
Ecosystem Unit Number	Adopted	Yes
Fire Unit Identifier	Adopted	Yes
Fiscal Year	Adopted	Yes
Geographic Area Name	Adopted	No
Geopolitical Entity Name and Code	Adopted	Yes
GSA Usage Code for Real Property Inventory	Adopted	Yes
IFWS Number	Adopted	Yes
International Telephone Number	Adopted	Yes
Latitude and Longitude	Adopted	Yes
Literals	Adopted	Yes
Mailing Address	Adopted	Yes
Maintenance Code	Adopted	Yes
Maintenance Type	Adopted	Yes
Office Names and Acronyms	Adopted	Yes
Organization Code	Adopted	Yes
Organization Name	Adopted	Yes
Organization Name Abbreviation	Adopted	Yes
Organization Type	Adopted	Yes
Organization Type Acronym	Adopted	Yes
Personal Property Number	Adopted	Yes
Program Names and Acronyms	Adopted	Yes
Project Number	Adopted	Yes
Real Property Number	Adopted	Yes
Region Number	Adopted	Yes
Report To Organization Code	Adopted	Yes
State Name and Alpha Code	Adopted	Yes
State Numeric Code	Adopted	Yes
Sub-Project Number	Adopted	Yes
Telephone Number	Adopted	Yes
Wind Direction	Adopted	Yes
Wind Speed	Adopted	Yes

Data Layers

Procedures

Name of Standard	Phase	Data Steward Appointed
Congressional District	Adopted	Yes
Digital Orthophoto Quad	Adopted	Yes
Digital Raster Graphic	Adopted	Yes
Ecosystem Unit Boundaries	Adopted	Yes
Hydrography (DLG)	Adopted	Yes
Hydrologic Units	Adopted	Yes
Hypsography (DLG)	Adopted	Yes
Political Boundaries (DLG)	Adopted	Yes
Public Land Survey System; PLSS (DLG)	Adopted	Yes
Riparian Areas	Adopted	Yes
Soils	Adopted	Yes
Transportation (DLG)	Adopted	Yes
Wetlands	Adopted	Yes

Name of Standard	Phase	Data Steward Appointed
Biological Metadata Standard	Adopted	Yes
Data Exchange Format for Calendar Date	Adopted	Yes
Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, Version 1.1	Adopted	Yes
Geospatial Data Exchange Format	Adopted	Yes
Geospatial Metadata Standard	Adopted	Yes
Map Elements for Internet Map Server (IMS) Applications	Adopted	Yes

These pages are maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Information Resources and Technology Management. Please feel free to contact Barb White with any questions and comments.